Welcome to the final edition of the READY newsletter! We’re celebrating ten years of the READY movement
The READY Newsletter – Final Edition celebrates ten years of impact, resilience, and youth leadership across Eastern and Southern Africa. Through stories like Ellen’s, a young mother and mentor in Zimbabwe, the newsletter highlights how peer support empowers adolescents living with HIV to accept their status, care for their children, and thrive with dignity. READY+ has shown that young people are not just beneficiaries but leaders, advocates, and agents of change in their communities.
Over the past decade, READY+ has reached more than 60,000 adolescents and young people, reduced HIV transmission rates among young mothers to under 1%, and trained thousands of youth to lead advocacy and shape policy. Partners across seven countries reflect on lessons learned, from tackling stigma and strengthening caregiver involvement to integrating mental health and sexual and reproductive health into HIV programming. The peer‑led model has proven effective in improving treatment adherence, service uptake, and youth‑friendly care.
Looking ahead, the newsletter emphasizes the importance of sustaining youth‑responsive health systems and integrating peer supporters into national structures. It celebrates the READY Academy, which fosters youth leadership and inclusion, and showcases innovations addressing challenges like climate change. Above all, this edition honors the creativity, resilience, and passion of young people who continue to drive progress in HIV and SRHR responses. #WeAreREADY
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